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Rep. Naughton preparing gun bill, looking to future office

Sentinel & Enterprise

Updated:
05/16/2013 05:18:58 PM EDT

By Matt Murphy

State House News Service

BOSTON -- Frustrated by inaction in Congress to address national gun laws, state Rep. Harold Naughton hopes to recommend a comprehensive bill updating Massachusetts gun statutes by September, in time to start the debate before the Legislature recesses for 2013.

Naughton, a Clinton Democrat who co-chairs the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, has become House Speaker Robert DeLeo's point-man on gun issues, working concurrently with an independent task force named by DeLeo to study the intersection of gun violence and mental health.

While Naughton says he does not want politics to interfere with his work on gun-law reforms, the potential candidate for lieutenant governor will be operating in the coming months with one foot in the 2014 campaign cycle as he takes steps to boost his profile and build up the financial resources necessary for a statewide campaign.

Naughton's district includes Lancaster.

In Washington, D.C., last week to attend to some Army duties and listen in on the congressional hearings into the Boston Marathon bombings, Naughton also carved out time to meet with a Democratic fundraiser.

"I've never been a great fundraiser. It's something I find to be one of the distasteful parts of the job," Naughton told the News Service.

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Naughton, a major in the U.S. Army Reserves, said he has not had a professional fundraiser in years. He described the meeting with the fundraiser as "casual" and declined to name the individual.

"I decided to talk to someone referred to me be it for re-election or other options because I've never been able to bank a substantial amount of money and I'd like to have some level of a war chest," Naughton said.

According to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Naughton ended 2012 with $21,735 in his state campaign account and $16,581 in liabilities, including almost $10,000 in personal loans to his campaign. He ran uncontested for re-election in the Democratic primary and general election.

Naughton would not say what "options" he is keeping open at the moment, but Democratic political operatives have told the News Service the reservist has been exploring a possible run for lieutenant governor in 2014.

Former Kennedy aide and Democratic National Committee official Stephen Kerrigan, who is a Lancaster native, and Mike Lake, executive director of the World Class Cities Partnership at Northeastern University, have already declared their candidacies for lieutenant governor in 2014. If Naughton enters the race, it would be a rematch of sorts with Kerrigan, whom he defeated in 2008 in a race for state representative.

Until he makes a final decision on his political future, Naughton has been focused on the issue of guns in the wake of the tragic elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The chairman launched a gun violence listening tour in early April, and is finalizing a schedule for five public hearings on the 65 gun-related bills filed this session.

The Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security is planning to hold the hearings in Plymouth, Worcester, Springfield and on the North Shore with the final hearing at the State House, likely in September.

The task force, chaired by Northeastern University Associate Dean Jack McDevitt, is aiming to make recommendations by August, according to Naughton.

"I really want to see the tack they take on mental health," said Naughton, predicting his committee would be ready to make its recommendation by the time the public hearings end in September.

Naughton said he was "frustrated" that congressional Republicans and Democrats couldn't come together over universal background checks for gun purchases.

Noting that Massachusetts has "some pretty strict laws as it is" on gun control, Naughton said that no matter what approach the state takes, action at the national level is necessary.

Momentum on Beacon Hill for legislation to address gun violence has waned since DeLeo put the issue front and center in January after the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings. The speaker did not finalize membership of his task force until mid-March.

During a March WBZ radio appearance, DeLeo, in response to a caller who objected to describing the task force as a "gun control" effort and warned against "attacks" on law-abiding gun owners, DeLeo said his father was an avid sportsman and interrupted the caller, saying, "I never called it gun control. I just want to make that very clear."

Naughton said he doesn't want his future political plans to become a distraction for the work he is trying to do around gun violence, and expects the issues to "take all of my attention and focus over the next few months."

"Hopefully we can come up with a thoughtful piece of legislation that can protect people rights at all levels and hopefully be picked up and followed by the federal government," Naughton said.

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